Category: Music

All hail Kid Carpet and his new record that includes the best version of Jump by Van Halen that I’ve ever heard. He has a website here and just to give you an idea, there’s a gig review here. I think Mr Carpet follows closely in the tradition of The Phil Collins 3. He was quite simply magnificent, and we all especially enjoyed his song about Badgers sleeping by the dual carriageway – that how he sees it. All instruments purchased very cheaply, including the bad boy keyboard that he got from a car booty, with power adaptor and manual. He was very proud of this. The japanese toysrus guitar has the best sounds, all those kids instruments that he uses as the tools of his trade, he uses to devastating effect.

Also should mention Willy Mason, who actually headlined this gig at The Wedge. He was accompanied by his brother on drums, and was elegant and sublime. Oxygen sounded wonderful and he left us all with a good fuzzy feeling as we spilled out.

Charlotte Hatherley has a new single called bastardo with a great cover by ilovedust who am fast becoming a fan of. They hail from Southsea, which is just down the road from me and look like they have a lovely setup there. Anyway we saw Charlotte at the wedge and she sang great and had a superb little band including her sister on keyboards. There’s an album called Grey Will Fade which is on order. It was a lovely gig, and chas had the kim deals about her, which is always good to see.

Although Cat on Form might have disbanded; the loons that are The Phil Collins 3 are still going strong. We saw them in the The Freebutt and they were an experience that has been seared into my retinas; caused irreparable damage to my ear-drums and seems to have affected my sense of balance. For the first half of the gig, the lead guitarist had trouble with the silver foil mask he was wearing – he wasn’t able to sing with it on, and had to abandon it. My favourite song of the night was a local favourite called “Chicken Nut Sack”, brilliant. They called themselves “The Phil Collins 3” because “our singer is losing his hair”. The Official Phil Collins 3 website is well worth a look, it’s packed with stuff, not all of it of sound mental health, but never mind. Also go visit Wogan Wole’s Unofficial site which has some photos, downloads and quotes from the audience such as “visually it was like slipknot, but made by blue peter” – lisa, the tavern night spot, brighton and “you had your mic switched off for the whole gig” – steve, a sound guy at the freebutt. A bit of class in an ocean of rubbish. An album out soon, that should give Daniel Bedingfield something to think about.

Really am very sorry to hear the news that Cat on Form have split and are no more. I got an email from the band saying it was all very amicable and that they’re still friends, but that they wanted to stop. I saw Cat on Form a couple of times, once supporting Fugazi, which really woke me up to them, and then in the hole that is the Freebutt in Brighton. Its a fantastic venue, the walls are wet with sweat and the atmosphere was electrifying, especially for Cat on Form. They played “clean”, with the house lights on, and the guitars squealling and shouting. I really looked forward to getting emails from the band, they read like a film, cancelled gigs, big nights, injuries and new members. They had a great drummer called Eva who thrashed like a woman possessed, she was a fearsome sight. I was sorry to hear she had back problems which meant cancelled gigs, until finally she had to let it go.

I’m sure its not the last we’ll see from the members of this wonderful band, there’s too much talent on show here, but in the meantime, there are still a few whispers, and a few records left.

Cat on Form and Southern Records There are some great photos, also mp3’s and back catalogue.

Had a hot night at the wedge, we had to drink lots of water and tied our jackets around our waists, we were like acid house ravers. The reason our suffering wasn’t in vain was the wonderful Mark Lanegan Band. We didn’t see much of him, the lights were atmospherically low, but what we heard was majestic. Chris burnt the record for me (the kids laugh at me, because I still called CD’s – “records”). Anyway, Mark’s latest record is available now and is called bubblegum. There are obvious Tom Waits influences, but there’s something a little darker at work here. I was just mesmerized, this music is very beautiful. Don’t take my word for it, go check it out now

Reviews from Chichester Film Festival coming soon.

I read about this man, who was lost, and then found as his music filtered through the speakers in his absence. He pressed only 600 copies of his first album You Think You Really Know Me by Gary Wilson & the Blind Dates and broke most of them over his head at one of his gigs. There’s a good article at The Village Voice and Gary himself has a great website called sixpointfour which is one of his songs, you can have a listen to it here. If you can spot the quote, then you get a cake.

I know its taken me a week to talk about seeing the Pixies at Brixton Academy. It was just awesome…the atmosphere was something like I’ve never experienced before. They came on to Head On and just unleashed a volley of songs, U-Mass, Debaser, Broken Face…song after song, with no pause, no talking. I don’t remember them ever being this good, its like the years have made more powerful and closer to perfection than they ever were. Most of the songs came from the first three albums, these are what real pixies fans listen to, and the only moments when the band looked at each other were during Joey’s solo on Vamos. After seeing Frank Black, replendent in country and western shirt, with his hired hands, playing warm and eccentric songs with The Catholics; tonight he was Black Francis, wearing the biggest pair of Jeans we’ve ever seen…and filling them. The songs were taught, fiery and viscious. When the four horsemen ride from the apocalypse, they’ll be listening to Wave of Mutilation on their walkman’s.

Just a few links for you…great reviews here and here. All four shows to download from Disclive and if you order quickly, you’ll recieve a limited edition boxed set of all four Brixton shows.

Just a note, the support was Badly Drawn Boy who was just so chuffed to be supporting “The Greatest Band in Living Memory”

Our star spotting was a bit pants, only Adam from Adam and Joe, but apparently Jude Law was there too.

Following the breakup of Pavement, SM has re-invented himself, up to a point as a singer songwriter with prog leanings, putting together a tight little outfit called Jicks. The first record,featured some great songs, but felt like a chance to tie up loose ends, finish songs he’d begun with Pavement, and find a new direction. This he’s done with Pig Lib which is a fantastic, sprawling, solo-strewn patchwork of songs. He sounds like he’s having a great time, so I thought I’d give it a mention, along with an entry in the typelist.

just a quick mention for the black keys, whose cd has been on constant rotation on my hi-fi and ipod. we had a great night at the wedgwood rooms. This is a great venue, and over the past year I’ve seen Gorkys, The Wannadies, Frank Black, Alfie, Dressed to Kill (surely the finest Kiss tribute band there ever was ) “Can you rock Southend?”, and probably a few more that I can’t remember off the top of my head – I think we might make a gigs typelist – so look out for it on the right hand side. Anyway, there hasn’t been a duffer yet? Shame we couldn’t get tickets for Ash…that would have been great, but we’ve got Raging Speedhorn coming up soon. (people at work think that I just make up these names…)

Seems we were lucky, but Garry and I have Pixies tickets for the Saturday night. Its a bit surreal, and the afternoon I heard about it, I kept getting emails from all the people I haven’t spoken to since, well…the last time I was listening to the Pixies.

After seeing Frank Black before Christmas, its going to be a gig and a half. He played Caribou, Cactus and…something else, but I can’t remember. Maybe it was a hint and what his intentions were. It does seem a bit of a backward step, The Catholics are a tight outfit, and The Breeders are excellent and established now in their own right, but who cares, bring it on.